Learning in Focus 

In Term 2 a select few Year 7, 8, 9 students recommended by science teachers, have had the opportunity to work on a water quality project with Engineer/Scientist:

Jay Seneviratne, FIEAust CPEng NER APEC Engineer Int PE(Aus), MBM.

With the assistance of teachers, students have begun a range of hands-on experiments as outlined below:

• Walk to Dandenong Creek wetlands report on visible features.
• Identify microorganisms, plants, insects and animals.
• Measuring pH, Dissolved O2, Nitrogen, Turbidity, Odour, Temperature, Bacteria, Hardness, Copper, Salinity, Conductivity
• Purifying water through distillation, filtration, floatation, chemical treatment. 

Our first outing with nets and buckets in hand saw our group scavenging for bugs both visible and microscopic through a natural section of Dandenong Creek and in the ponds outside the Senior Science rooms. We then viewed and identified live waterbugs under the microscope. Following considering the biological factors of our local water sources we then went on to consider the quality of the water through chemical analysis beginning with the various methods of measuring pH. 

Our next sessions will consider the other factors and processes involved in investigating water quality. Students will then plan to modify the conditions of the school science pond to improve the conditions for the existing waterbugs, snails, plantlife and fish.